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Our league tournament is fast approaching (June 12th-14th), so here's an update on what the executive have been up to concerning the tournament.

Tournament Location

As you may have heard, we were unable to get the Bridlewood Core Park diamonds this year. The city originally told us that we were confirmed for the June 12-14th weekend at Core Park, but then reneged on that this spring when they realized that a large slo-pitch tournament needed the diamonds that same weekend. That slo-pitch tournament always books the weekend before Father's Day, which for the past several years put them on a weekend around June 5th or 6th. With Father's Day being later this year (June 21st) the city messed up and we got bumped.

A.Y. was also booked on the weekend of the 12-14th, so the best the city could offer us was J.C. plus the Beaverbrook diamond by Mlacak arena. We considered moving the tournament to the 19-21st weekend (Father's Day), but there's a large fastball tournament that weekend at Carlington Park that many of our league's top pitchers and players will be attending. The weekend before was just as bad with all of the GOFL teams (and therefore many of our best players) participating in a "showcase day" on the Saturday, so we felt it best to stick to the original weekend.

We expanded our search for diamonds to include neighboring communities with twin diamonds. Stittsville's Alexander Grove park would have been a great location but it too was booked. In the end, we settled on the twin diamonds at the Carp Fairgrounds. Both are in excellent shape and are substantially cheaper than what we would have paid for city-managed diamonds (about $800 for the weekend vs. about $1600). The Carp diamonds are adjacent to the W.E. Johnston arena and are part of the Carp Fairgrounds complex; they're quite easy to get to with the parking lot entrance off Carp Rd. just a bit north of the main intersection in Carp.

Schedule

We'll do our best to stick with the historical scheduling format of giving every team one game Friday night, two Saturday, and then semis & finals on Sunday. With 9 teams however that will be impossible. We're asking for feedback from league members on some key issues that will impact the tournament and its schedule. We could stick with just our 9 league teams and try to figure out a format that guarantees everyone 3 games, or we could open things up to outside rec-level teams for the first time ever. We've had some interest from both the Fitzroy and Trend-Arlington men's leagues, so we could explore that and try to get either 10 or 12 teams in total. Outside teams would have to pay a fee (probably in the vicinity of $300) but there would not be any prize money for the tournament winners. Pitchers for outside teams would need to be approved by the league executive to ensure that their skill level is on par with our league. Please let the executive know your thoughts on the use of outside teams and other schedule issues. A survey is attached to this article - please vote for your preferred option.

Sponsor

Through good fortune and hard work, we have a tournament sponsor for this year and next! The manager of the Stittsville Broadway was impressed with the turnout for the registration session we held there and approached us about sponsoring. Dan and Trevor have negotiated a two-year sponsorship deal with him that will bring the league significant additional revenue over two seasons. Our tournament banquet night (Friday June 12th) will be held at the Stittsville Broadway and the tournament champion trophy will be named after the restaurant and kept at their location for the year. The Stittsville Broadway is just 10 minutes south on Carp Rd. from the diamonds, so it's a good fit for both parties given the location of the diamonds. After your game on Friday night, please support our new sponsor and bring your team. There will be some free things for your team to enjoy (exact details to be ironed out) and a draw for a new Combat high performance bat for those who attend. As we like to do with all our sponsors, please come out and show your support, they have made a big financial commitment to our league.

The rosters are set and regular season play has begun as of May 4th.

If you're still interested in playing, please fill out and submit a form. We typically lose several players during the course of the season and we fill those spots from the waiting list. Players on the waiting list can also be called on as spares if a team is short on players. Funds aren't due until you are granted a full-time roster spot.

The registration form is available in the "Handouts" section or you access it from this link: Registration Form

The rosters are set and regular season play has begun as of May 4th.

If you're still interested in playing, please fill out and submit a form. We typically lose several players during the course of the season and we fill those spots from the waiting list. Players on the waiting list can also be called on as spares if a team is short on players. Funds aren't due until you are granted a full-time roster spot.

The registration form is available in the "Handouts" section or you access it from this link: Registration Form